Debt collectors refer to these legal guidelines as a “mini Miranda.” If a debt collector does not give this information to you, he or she is violating the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. If questioned, the debt collector is obligated to tell you her name, the name, address and fax number of her agency, and what creditor she is calling on behalf of.

If it is necessary she will go over the terms of sale with you, or credit contracts. Keep in mind that your conversation will most likely be recorded, and a good bill collector is a sneaky one. They will most likely use their listening skills to try to determine the cause of the delinquency.

Despite what you may have heard from anecdotal stories, or the sensational stories you have heard on the news, most debt collectors are empathetic people, working to make a buck like you. Even if your debt collector is calling aggressively, it is never a good idea to ignore their calls. A debt collector will have the authority to offer a repayment plan, or some other type of help to make it easier for you to pay off of your debt.

At times, they are capable of finding solutions to your financial problems. After all, they work with people like you every day. They can even offer you some helpful advice or they might be able to refer you to some helpful debt counselors. Unfortunately, it has been said that all stereotypes have some truth in them, and there will be an occasional debt collector who may use strong arm or even illegal tactics to collect a debt. If something doesn’t sit right with you, consult the FDCPA, and call your local attorney general’s office to report the incident.

Mallory Megan works for Rapid Recovery Solution and writes articles on national collection agencies.

An example of the phishing email can be found on the IRS web site.

“After the last year’s calculations of your fiscal activity we’ve come to the conclusion that you’re able to receive a tax refund of $78.87. Please submit the tax refund request and give us 6-9 days to process it. Access the form for your tax refund by clicking here. – Regards, Internal Revenue Service.”

The IRS doesn’t notify taxpayers of refunds, or any other payments that may be due, by email. Rather than click on the link in the message, you should forward the email to phishing@irs.gov, and delete the original from your email account.

IRS schemes work one of two ways: scammers send unsolicited e-mails that seem to come from the IRS and tell recipients that they have refunds that are due. But first they need to click on e-mail links and provide needed information, which they will use to steal a victims identity.

The second version is an email that claims to be from the IRS Criminal Investigation Division telling the reader that they are under investigation for false tax returns. To learn more about the complaints against them, consumers click on the links which have Trojan horse codes.

These codes take over computer hard drives and permit scammers to remotely access the computers and use them to send spam email among other things. If you ever do receive unsolicited emails from the IRS, they urge you to forward them the email.

Mallory Megan works for a debt collection company. She also composes articles on business, finance, the credit industry and collection agencies. Get a totally unique version of this article from our article submission service